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325,000 MEMBERS STRONG

June 18, 2008

CTA Supports San Francisco Rally on Health Care Reform

Contact: Mike Myslinski at 650-552-5324

BURLINGAME – California’s teachers are joining a major protest rally for health care reform Thursday in San Francisco because the soaring costs of insurance coverage are hurting students, educators and working families, warns California Teachers Association President David A. Sanchez.

“It is unconscionable that, at a time when California has the eighth-largest economy in the world, our students still miss school or come to our classrooms sick because their parents just cannot afford the health care they need,” Sanchez said. “CTA strongly supports the rally’s focus on pending legislation we co-sponsored, Senate Bill 840, to establish a single-payer system of universal health insurance for all California residents.”

Senator Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, authored SB 840 – the California Universal Healthcare Act – and will speak out at the massive rally. The protest is being held outside a national convention of an estimated 38,000 private health insurance executives to drive home the message that our nation’s health care system is broken and wasting billions of dollars while health plans reap huge profits.

The 340,000-member CTA has fought for several years for health care reform that makes health insurance affordable, controls excessive costs, and expands access to all Californians.

Rally organizers said other participants will include San Francisco teachers, public education support professionals, nurses, senior citizen activists, and the mother of a California woman who died after being denied health care by her insurer. The noon rally is at the convention of the America’s Health Insurance Plans group being held at the Moscone Center, corner of Fourth and Howard streets.